Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America is an extraordinary piece of literature that has earned much acclaim in general non-fiction. The author of the book is Garry Wills. Garry Wills is an adjunct professor of history at Northwestern University. He has a dignified career as an author and his articles regularly appear in the New York Review of Books. He has received numerous accolades, including the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for Lincoln at Gettysburg and the National Endowment for the Humanities Presidential Medal. Wills rightfully deserves these accolades for presenting an opportunity to contemplate the importance, aspects, and eloquence of the Gettysburg Address, if for no other reasons. This book will stimulate the reader to re-evaluate and understand one of the greatest speeches orated in American history.
             It was a gruesome battle at Gettysburg, at which even with the victory of the North, neither side left the grounds gloriously. Fifty thousand were dead, wounded, or missing. It was a repellant and suffocating site with the smell of decaying horse and man flesh. It was a place of grotesque reality, a place unlikely to become a symbol of ideals, purpose, and pride. The Governor of Pennsylvania authorized the purchase of a cemetery to bury the soldiers. After its completion, the grounds would deserve to be dedicated and the air to be sweetened. Edward Everett, a man that could captivate and spellbound audiences, seemed to be the competent speaker for the consecration. President Lincoln was invited to orate, but he was asked specifically to only deliver limited remarks. Although the main speaker would still be Everett, it was Lincoln that uttered the words vital for the American people to devour. With his compelling rhetoric, Abraham Lincoln not only freshened the air of Gettysburg, he purified the sinful and compunctious atmosphere of American history. He manifested an "altered&q...